


Heart That is Broken, Beats Still Unceasing

by captainraz



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/F, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 19:47:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5639725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainraz/pseuds/captainraz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I fear I am beyond the skill of a healer this time, my friend"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart That is Broken, Beats Still Unceasing

The Inquisitor hit the ground with a muffled thump, her legs twisted wrongly beneath her. Cassandra yelled her name; she'd heard something crack wetly on impact, she knew it was bad and wanted to be at her side. But there was the small matter of dealing with the demon she was currently fighting.

She needed to get to the Inquisitor. Her heart burned with urgency.

The demon fell to her sword at last and Cassandra automatically turned to take down the next before she realised the battlefield had fallen silent; the Breach was sealed, the demons all gone.

It was over.

Heart in her throat she rushed to her friend's side. "Inquisitor!"

Trevelyan coughed, a horrible wet gurgle of a sound. "Cassandra." Her voice was weak and there was blood on her lips.  "Did we do it?"

"You did it," Cassandra said gently, taking the Inquisitor's hand. "Corphyeus is defeated; the Breach is sealed. We won. Lie still, we will fetch a healer."

Trevelyan smiled and then grimaced in pain. "I fear I am beyond the skill of a healer this time."

Something hot and wet prickled in the corners of Cassandra's eyes. Her hands shook. "No! Don't say that. You'll be fine, you have to be..."

Another wet cough and a grimace. "Not this time my friend."

Cassandra ignored her, tears running freely down her cheeks now. "Dorian! Vivienne! Someone, help." She fumbled at her belt for a healing potion but she had none left.

The Inquisitor reached out to touch the Seeker's cheek, leaving a smear of blood there. "Cassandra," she said, her voice getting quiet, her face deathly pale. "It has been... an honour." She took a deep shuddering breath and her hand fell.

She was gone.

"No!"

Cassandra screamed, letting all her anger and pain and grief in one terrible sound. She gathered Trevelyan's limp form in her arms, pulling the Herald against her breastplate and sobbed, rocking backward and forwards in her grief for her friend.

How long she stayed like that she couldn't tell. Cassandra knew nothing but pain and tears until she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. She looked up; it was Varric, battle-worn and with tears running down his own face.

He didn't say a word, he just gently pried Cassandra away from the Inquisitor's lifeless body. She protested but he was insistent and his dwarven hands were strong. There was nothing Cassandra could do; other people would deal with the body. Somehow (and later she would have no memory of it) Varric got Cassandra back to camp and sat her down in a tent. A glass of something amber and potent was pressed into her hand. She drank it down in one gulp.

"You loved her," he said quietly, voice gruffer than usual. It wasn't a question.

"Yes."

"Did you get the chance to tell her?"

Cassandra shook her head, closing her eyes against the wave of pain in her chest.

Varric said nothing, he just refilled the Seeker's glass. After a third drink Cassandra was feeling a little better; not good exactly, but having the warm of the alcohol in her chest next to the ragged hole left by the Inquisitor's death helped a little. For now.

"It wasn't your fault you know," Varric said. "There wasn't anything you could have done."

It was kind of him to say but Cassandra wasn't sure she'd ever be able to believe that.

In the immediate aftermath of the battle there was a lot to be done; injuries to be tended, bodies to be recovered and preparations to be made for honouring the fallen. In the Inquisitor's absence many looked to Cassandra for leadership and she did whatever she could, though she found no know in the work. Mostly she was just grateful for the distraction from her grief.

She had lost so much, but she still had her duty and her faith.

The Inquisitor was laid to rest in a lavish ceremony fit for the hero who had saved all Thedas. There was also a much more intimate gathering for those who had called Inquisitor Trevelyan a friend. With nothing left to keep them together, most of the companions went their separate ways.

Cassandra set her efforts to rebuilding the Seekers of Truth into the Order it should have been. It was a difficult, thankless task, but it gave her purpose. It brought her no joy; nothing did in this new world. For Cassandra there was no happiness to be found but as time went on the pain grew less.

When Varric wrote the story of what happened after he told of a strong, passionate woman who had loved and lost without knowing whether her love was returned, and had been broken by it. Cassandra couldn't find it in herself to be angry at him for it, not when it was the truth.

**Author's Note:**

> Written before I'd actually played the final mission, so may contradict that slightly.


End file.
